[Significance of the fusospirillum complex (Plaut-Vincent angina)]

The results are discussed of a retrospective study of 126 patients by whom an excess of the fusospirochaetal complex was found by direct microscopic examination of tonsillar material. These bacteria are not only found in unilateral ulcero-necrotic tonsillitis, but also in different other tonsillar and general diseases. Vincent's angina appears almost exclusively in young persons, aged from 16 to 25 years; in the adolescence (16-20 years) it forms about 40% of all cases of acute tonsillitis. The fusospirochaetal complex is also often found in chronic tonsillitis and even in morfologically normal tonsils, especially in patients with general diseases like rheumatic arthritis. In one third of the patients with infectious mononucleosis, the complex is present in the tonsillar lesions. The occurrence of Vincent's angina is double as high in women than in men. From our assessments we can conclude that the fusospirochaetal complex has a very low pathogenity, and that it only can grow in patients with a reduced local or general resistance, even without causing local lesions.